Since she's been Out

   Since Adalyn was discharged back on October 10, we have been through some major changes. 
First, we moved her from the hospital to my parents' home.  After being in the hospital for 117 days, this was a major change for her, and she showed it!  I think she cried a few hours every day for a week straight, and would not take her bottle without trying for 2 hours first.  In the first two days, she lost a couple of ounces; if she kept losing, we would have to go back to the hospital.  Luckily, she decided to cooperate a bit and gained it back a few days later.  Next, a few weeks later, Jason and I bought a house so we moved her again!  Being in the car, and changing the environment around her proved, and still proves to be tiring and upsetting to her.  She's getting better with it, but after traveling or visiting others at their houses, she is usually extremely fussy the next day.  Either from not sleeping while she was there, or because she doesn't know what's going on when we keep bringing her from place to place.  I wish I knew what was going on in her head!
   For about the first month since we had her home, she would cry pretty much everyday around 6pm; I would later learn that this is what colic is.  But, every day, I would try to figure out what she wanted.  And it was different every time.  One day she would want a bottle, the next day she wanted to be held, the next day she would want to be held but walked around with; and usually if she wanted a bottle, you had to try every 15 minutes until she would take it!  I can't express to you how happy I was to finally figure her out.. I learned her cries (she never cried in the hospital, because they force fed her through a feeding tube every 3 hours.. but more on that later!), her tired cry versus her hungry cry, and then even just her mad cry.  And we learned that when she cries at night, it's because she wants another bottle even though she just ate an hour beforehand.  So, no more crying!!
   Adalyn started to hate belly-time, then like it again; she started lifting her head up, and then eventually she could stabilize it on her own; she could only look to the right, and then she learned to move her head as she followed toys and people; when she was mad she would flip herself from her back to her stomach, and now I am currently watching her struggle to do it on purpose!  She kicks and bounces and sings along when she gets excited as a cartoon called "Dinosaur Train" comes on; she likes her bottle!  I think I cried the day that she actually got excited when I started putting her bib on her, and she grabbed her bottle.  That was such a struggle in the hospital, it took her 5 weeks to eat before they could discharge us, and I thought she would never enjoy eating!  When I took her bottle away because it got clogged, she would flip out; now, I take it out to unclog it and she watches me do it and waits for me to give it back to her.  It's completely amazing to watch her learn and develop.
   I'd like to write a few more blogs about my struggles, coming into my own as a mom; learning to express myself; learning to stand up for myself and Adalyn against others, even and especially family; talking to the doctors about meeting in the middle of their expertise and my opinions as a mother.

Pictures of the past 3 months, since she got out of the hospital, coming soon!  Check back again later!